Annotated Bibliography
Food Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Perf. MIchael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. Magnolia Pictures, 2009. Documentary.
For the purposes of this project, we used Food Inc. as our jumping off point. We witnessed the farming practices of huge industrial farms and were convinced that we needed to investigate local and organic foods more. We also used the documentary style featured in the film as our style for the project. We modeled many of our interviews after the ones we saw in the film. We wanted our interviews to be very conversational, just as they were in this film. We feel the goal of the film was to educate consumers about what they are eating when they support these factory farms and to urge consumers to seek alternative options, and for us it did just that.
Higginbotham, Shannon. Personal interview. 15 Apr. 2012.
Shannon and her husband run and own Cheyenne's Roadmarket in Mount Laurel, NJ, and together they will be one of the growers that supplies the Kirby's farmers market from late May through October. Sarah Kirby put us in touch with Shannon, who was gracious enough to take us on a guided tour through her fields and her greenhouse. Alongside beautiful footage, Shannon also provides insights as to the benefits of buying and eating locally grown produce, the difficulties in farming practices using heirloom seeds, and was able to talk about a number of rare crops Cheynne's Roadmarket grows. The goal of her road market and the farmers market as a whole, she said, is to feed the community healthier, to make them want to eat better. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Kirby, Chaz and Sarah. Personal interview. 12 Apr. 2012.
For a group without a set goal and a project without a set destination or story to tell, the group went into this interview with the hope that it would shape what our collaborative research project would become. Following an interview that went better than any of us could have imagined, we came away with so much more material than what we're actually able to fit in the finished product. If we had the time, the footage from the Kirby Brothers Feed Store could've easily filled a feature length documentary. They took us through their old mill, but more importantly, gave us a taste of what eating local is all about, setting the ball rolling for all three of our other interviews. Without the Chaz and Sarah Kirby's guidance, who knows what this project becomes. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006.
In selected sections of his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan helps paint the picture of how we've come to the place we are today, namely in terms of the crops we grow and how they are cycled, or the number of people a single farmer can produce food for, as well as what it costs (in terms of time, money, labor, and oil) to go about harvesting. A lot of what Pollan writes about in terms of environmental impact was also brought up in interviews with not only the Chaz and Sarah Kirby, but also Shannon Higginbotham; Dr. Spencer was able to talk extensively about what it means to continue to subsidize the growth of massive amounts of corn, something Pollan's writing also features.
Schneider, Stephen. "Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement."College English 70.4 (2008): 384-400.
Without initially realizing it, our project took a similar tone to Stephen Schneider's Good, Clean, and Fair. With quotes like, "Put simply, good food is tasty and diverse and is produced in such a way as to maximize its flavor and connections to a geographic and cultural region" (390), and his talk about the Noah Principle moving people away from protest-oriented actions and encouraging them to take the onus on themselves to make changes, it was hard not to gravitate toward this piece of writing. Instead of throwing stones and preparing for the big I-told-you-so once the industrial food market is exposed for some of the unhealthy practices they promote, the folks behind the Slow Food movement are doing something about it. As opposed to predicting the coming storm, Schneider writes, they're trying to build the boat that could potentially save us all. It is very similar to what the Kirby's are doing in Medford.
Spencer, Leslie. Personal interview. 16 Apr. 2012.
Dr. Leslie Spencer is a professor at Rowan University in the Health and Exercise Department. During her interview, we were able to gather factual information that supplemented the information we gleaned in the three previous interviews. The information we had previously gotten was biased towards a locally grown and organic lifestyle. Dr. Spencer was able to give us information that was a variety of opinion and factual information. She was very helpful and extremely knowledgeable, and her interview was able to further show us that eating local requires almost a complete lifestyle change; it is not something easily accomplished. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Stoltzfus, John. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2012
John Stoltzfus is the manager of the Amish Market located in the Landis Marketplace in Vineland, New Jersey. His family owns and operates several dozen Amish market's in the tri-state area. The initial goal of their market was to bring a little bit of Lancaster County to other areas. After hearing the public opinion, the family decided to go Jersey Fresh and include local farmers in the New Jersey markets; the populace in Vineland didn't so much care for the taste of Lancaster. The interview we conducted was a spur of the moment. We wanted to film in the market and were not sure if we were allowed, so we asked to see the manager and once we got his permission, we started telling him about our project. He started to give us information and we then asked for an interview. We were able to gain a perspective on markets unlike we had before. John was extremely knowledgable about his vendors and his practices, but also brought a pragmatic side to eating local that we hadn't seen before. Namely, to run a business 52 weeks out of the year, it would be impossible for the Landis Marketplace to only provide their customers with locally grown produce. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
For the purposes of this project, we used Food Inc. as our jumping off point. We witnessed the farming practices of huge industrial farms and were convinced that we needed to investigate local and organic foods more. We also used the documentary style featured in the film as our style for the project. We modeled many of our interviews after the ones we saw in the film. We wanted our interviews to be very conversational, just as they were in this film. We feel the goal of the film was to educate consumers about what they are eating when they support these factory farms and to urge consumers to seek alternative options, and for us it did just that.
Higginbotham, Shannon. Personal interview. 15 Apr. 2012.
Shannon and her husband run and own Cheyenne's Roadmarket in Mount Laurel, NJ, and together they will be one of the growers that supplies the Kirby's farmers market from late May through October. Sarah Kirby put us in touch with Shannon, who was gracious enough to take us on a guided tour through her fields and her greenhouse. Alongside beautiful footage, Shannon also provides insights as to the benefits of buying and eating locally grown produce, the difficulties in farming practices using heirloom seeds, and was able to talk about a number of rare crops Cheynne's Roadmarket grows. The goal of her road market and the farmers market as a whole, she said, is to feed the community healthier, to make them want to eat better. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Kirby, Chaz and Sarah. Personal interview. 12 Apr. 2012.
For a group without a set goal and a project without a set destination or story to tell, the group went into this interview with the hope that it would shape what our collaborative research project would become. Following an interview that went better than any of us could have imagined, we came away with so much more material than what we're actually able to fit in the finished product. If we had the time, the footage from the Kirby Brothers Feed Store could've easily filled a feature length documentary. They took us through their old mill, but more importantly, gave us a taste of what eating local is all about, setting the ball rolling for all three of our other interviews. Without the Chaz and Sarah Kirby's guidance, who knows what this project becomes. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006.
In selected sections of his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan helps paint the picture of how we've come to the place we are today, namely in terms of the crops we grow and how they are cycled, or the number of people a single farmer can produce food for, as well as what it costs (in terms of time, money, labor, and oil) to go about harvesting. A lot of what Pollan writes about in terms of environmental impact was also brought up in interviews with not only the Chaz and Sarah Kirby, but also Shannon Higginbotham; Dr. Spencer was able to talk extensively about what it means to continue to subsidize the growth of massive amounts of corn, something Pollan's writing also features.
Schneider, Stephen. "Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement."College English 70.4 (2008): 384-400.
Without initially realizing it, our project took a similar tone to Stephen Schneider's Good, Clean, and Fair. With quotes like, "Put simply, good food is tasty and diverse and is produced in such a way as to maximize its flavor and connections to a geographic and cultural region" (390), and his talk about the Noah Principle moving people away from protest-oriented actions and encouraging them to take the onus on themselves to make changes, it was hard not to gravitate toward this piece of writing. Instead of throwing stones and preparing for the big I-told-you-so once the industrial food market is exposed for some of the unhealthy practices they promote, the folks behind the Slow Food movement are doing something about it. As opposed to predicting the coming storm, Schneider writes, they're trying to build the boat that could potentially save us all. It is very similar to what the Kirby's are doing in Medford.
Spencer, Leslie. Personal interview. 16 Apr. 2012.
Dr. Leslie Spencer is a professor at Rowan University in the Health and Exercise Department. During her interview, we were able to gather factual information that supplemented the information we gleaned in the three previous interviews. The information we had previously gotten was biased towards a locally grown and organic lifestyle. Dr. Spencer was able to give us information that was a variety of opinion and factual information. She was very helpful and extremely knowledgeable, and her interview was able to further show us that eating local requires almost a complete lifestyle change; it is not something easily accomplished. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.
Stoltzfus, John. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2012
John Stoltzfus is the manager of the Amish Market located in the Landis Marketplace in Vineland, New Jersey. His family owns and operates several dozen Amish market's in the tri-state area. The initial goal of their market was to bring a little bit of Lancaster County to other areas. After hearing the public opinion, the family decided to go Jersey Fresh and include local farmers in the New Jersey markets; the populace in Vineland didn't so much care for the taste of Lancaster. The interview we conducted was a spur of the moment. We wanted to film in the market and were not sure if we were allowed, so we asked to see the manager and once we got his permission, we started telling him about our project. He started to give us information and we then asked for an interview. We were able to gain a perspective on markets unlike we had before. John was extremely knowledgable about his vendors and his practices, but also brought a pragmatic side to eating local that we hadn't seen before. Namely, to run a business 52 weeks out of the year, it would be impossible for the Landis Marketplace to only provide their customers with locally grown produce. To see an overview of the interview in text format, please visit the Tape Notes section of our website.